Kochi & Munnar

My friends and I went to Kochi and Munnar for a 4 days 3 nights trip after our short semester break in February. We arrived India late at night and stayed at Castle Rock Hotel on the same day. 

Day 1 of our trip started with the excitement of staying in a boat known as House Boat. YES! It is indeed a large boat being modified to be home-like with 3 rooms inside, totally corresponded to our group of 7 persons. 

It was a never-before experience as we spent the whole day on the boat, listening to the call of nature, the melody of waves and the soft wind which kisses our face. Such an enjoyable moment after our long struggle with the tight syllabus for the previous semester.

The next day we traveled by van to a place known as Munnar. It is situated uphill with a cold climate and resembles Cameron Highlands in Pahang, Malaysia. Tea plantations could be seen along the slopes and varieties of plants are beautifully displayed, welcoming us as we drove uphill. 

Before we reach the peak, our driver stopped halfway at an elephant park. It is managed by the locals and instead of riding the elephants for a round, the elephant bought us across the jungle, only for a short distance, but still the experience is vastly difference compared to what we have in Malaysia. 

The fun and relaxing time I had in Munnar is the one I appreciated the most. People said you only realised and enjoy the free time you have once you have experienced the busy schedule which could make you go mad anytime. This is incredibly true as I have been striving very hard for the past 6 months in order to achieve a good result for my studies. 

I have a few other friends who did not join us for the trip due to the reason that study is more important and this is not the time to play. However, I strongly believes that study is a never ending process and the few days of relaxing is actually crucial for our cramped brain as our studies will definitely not be affected by these few days of vacation that we spent.

Late at night around 6pm, we went for Kathakali cultural show for an hour. The show depicts a few god and goddess of the Hindus imitating actions as Kathakali means the God of Art. I am not a fan of all these show and I felt quite bored for this traditional cultural show.

After the show, we went to see Martial Arts just beside the podium for Kathakali. This time it is a completely different show from the one we watched just now. It involved true fighting scenes as all the skills demonstrated are real and one of the fighters actually got injured and there was bleeding on his shoulder. 

The next day we travelled along River Road and the beach of Kochi. One of the shop that gave me a deep impression was Saga Departmental Store. It is actually a mansion selling antiques, furnitures,  carpets and jewellery. Knowing that young students like us could not afford any of the above mentioned stuff which can cost up to 1,000,000 rupees, the promoter which is Mr Wani Mir still consistently explained each and every details of the goods there. 

He is from Kashmir and the shop is owned by his family. He explained to us that carpets actually have investment value and the longer you keep a good quality carpet, the higher will the price be. I salute his professionalism which I think is something I could not even encounter in Kuala Lumpur. 

Thank you friends who made my trip a memorable and wonderful one. It is definitely an eye-opening experience for a city boy like me~ =)

Phuah Sheng

Benjamin Gan

Jonathan Ngo

Jing Yang

Samuel Tiong

Siong Keat

LEGO Completed, Holidays Ended

I have just finished assembling the LEGO Ferrari car series and I still have a day more until I go back to India. I am a huge fan of LEGO since young but the price of one small piece is shooting up every year which made me a burden to buy them! These ferrari car costs RM12.90 each~ >_<

As I am writing this I am preparing my luggage with a heavy heart that not many can understand. Leaving my comfort zone and everything behind, learning to be an independent individual... See u in few days time Kochi!

The Reunion - Chinese New Year

My holiday started on 2nd February and I reached Ipoh on 4th February at noon. To be frank I am seriously a homesick guy as I have never left home for such a long time. 5 months of staying in Manipal nurtured me to be a person who appreciate more of my surroundings, particularly the people around me. I have 5 more days left in Ipoh as I will be going back to India on 26th, leaving behind my comfort zone and everything that I have here. To eliminate the sad feeling of going back, I am gonna post about my Chinese New Year days here in my very own hometown. 

This year, the year of the snake is the first year I had my reunion dinner other than at my grandma house. I joined my nanny's family reunion dinner at Kampar Club (not in Kampar) at 6pm along with both my sisters, then we rushed to my 2nd Uncle house at Taman Perajurit, just 1 street apart from my roommate, Chin Leong's house. I miss the get-together moments as I can only experience this during CNY. Next year I may not be able to celebrate CNY in Malaysia... =(

Among the days during CNY, Day 2 is the day I anticipated the most every year. I went to my big cousin brother house at Tambun. As you can see all the yummy dishes are cooked and freshly prepared by my nanny. She woke up at 5am and start preparing in order for us to enjoy the delicious meal. Pig stomach soup, roasted pork, roasted duck, braised chicken, GREEN-leafy vegetables were among the tasty dishes which is not possible to get in Manipal. Everyone was saying I have became slimmer and thinner after I came back. Technically I ate quite a lot in Manipal and I don't save money on food! This may be due to the extremely, freaking stress on my studies. I stayed up late every night and woke up early everyday except Sunday there. That does not end when I came back, I still have 4 and a half years more, thinking of it made me feel scare. But rest assured, I am in the process of becoming a great doctor~ =) (thank you Chee Sian)

Day 3 of CNY was one of the happiest day I have too. Every year my family will be having open house on day 3 of CNY. My house is not a bungalow but merely a terrace house which could not hold huge amount of guests, parking is a problem along the street and my pitiful friends have to squeeze themselves into the kitchen and stairs as the dining place and parlour were fully occupied. I did not invite many friends this year but more than 20 of them were present due to spreading of news by some of my close friends here. I am glad to see them enjoyed themselves here and had a fun time meeting old friends. As you can see Cai Shen (God of Fortune) is in the photo. Nope, my family did not call him but it is the work by some of my dad's AIA colleague who planned to give a surprise to my dad. The atmosphere in this house turned hot when Cai Shen is here. One of my uncle even ask him to write him a 4-digit number!

I was at home on Day 4 when I received a call from Xinh Guan, saying that he and my few former classmates will be visiting in 10 minutes time. They came by Geston's car and I felt happy everyone is still the same, no huge changes in them. Although only few of them were here, but it was nice knowing their progress in their respective universities. All of them are currently doing good. I joined them after that and we went to Swee Kwan's house which is less than 5-minute drive from my house. Both his grandparents were there and they are still healthy and strong. 

Day 5 is 14th February which is also Valentine's Day! I went to Hui Ling's house as we already planned to make glutinous rice ball (tang-yuen) together. It is simply not an easy process as we have to choose the correct fruits in order to make the colouring of the rice balls. Rubbing and twisting the rice flour also requires skill and the perfect combination of water and flour will only give the best taste rice balls that we expected. TADAAAA, cute and fat rice balls are born after few hours of hardwork ^^ We went to Aeon, Station 18 to watch Wedding Diary 2 after that. It is a both meaningful and hilarious movie although I did not watch the first series. Warm Chocolate Lava cake from Secret Recipe and Chatime milk teas, simple and lovely for Valentine's~ =D Sometimes I felt I have neglected my parents when it comes to Valentine's Day. I have not spend a single moment with them on that day and I felt sorry for it... 

My primary school friends reunion is held on Day 6 at Greentown's Oldtown Kopitiam. I have not met some of them for years, such as Wai Pin, Kah Keen and Xiang Bin. We still share some of the common topics and it is quite enjoyable to be with them on that day. Joker of all times - Li Heng, still the same old him and the things he talked never failed to entertain us. Although sometimes we tend to bully him but he is not affected by the words we said, nor by the teasing we have done. How good if there is a time machine and I can go back to my primary school times in Yuk Choy. I will seriously appreciate the moments there and spend more time with my beloved teachers and my innocent friends (back then xD). I remember how I used to be super quiet in the class and dare not speak with too many people, I was shy back then! If I were to recall any crazy experience, I could only find a few. We went to Anthony's house after the reunion and as usual, blackjack time!! =D

Day 7 is a blue Saturday, Hui Ling is going back to Bukit Jalil as she will be having classes the following weeks. Most of my friends were back by then as their holidays were only until CNY week. I spent the whole day at her house, accompanying her... =( <3 

  

Sunday! I had my cousins gathering at Nasmir mamak shop. Only the 4 of us - me, my elder sister and both my cousin brothers. We used to play at the playground opposite my nanny's house when I was in my primary school times. Melvin bro is currently doing his internship after graduated from university whereas Jason bro is still in Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka. It has been n years since the 4 of us gathered together.. =')

I spent the night at my nanny's house prior to the Day 9 as the Jade Emperor ritual (bai-tian-gong) is held there. Hokkiens and some businessmen believe that they will receive blessing and prosperity in their lives granted by the Jade Emperor God. Rui Xin, the chubby young girl is there too along with her naughty brother. She is no longer staying in my nanny's house except every Wednesday where her parents will drop her there to see my nanny. She is very close to me as I will accompany her to play everytime. As I am writing this I realised when I was in Manipal, I don't really miss the food in Ipoh, nor my fluffy bed or adidas shoes, what I really miss was the people in my hometown. Sometimes I do ponder the journey I am undertaking now, the 5-year course that I am currently pursuing. Will everything be the same after I have graduated? Would all the people still be at the same old place? No one knows... =\

Turbulent Feeling

As I am writing this, the time now is 11.10pm which is 1.40am in Malaysia. I am sitting in one of the economy class seats beside Phuah Sheng and I have just boarded the flight from Cochin (Kochi) International Airport to LCCT.

In a blink of eye, the time has come for my 1 month vacation after struggling hard, real hard for 5 months in Manipal. I can still vividly remember the exciting moment when a bunch of Malaysian monkeys like us first reached India, and now it's the time for us to say goodbye after such a long journey (not long in fact), I am finally a 10% doctor!

The awesome friends I have made, the amazing lecturers and the ever-friendly locals made me feel so homely day by day. This feeling is hard to describe in plain words as you have to be in it to understand it. Thank you to each and everyone of my sakai friends who made my journey in Manipal a memorable one~ =)

I miss my parents, I miss my girlfriend, I miss my friends and I miss all my relatives, I miss my bed, I miss the rain, the sky, the tar road, chatime, dimsum, pan mee and basically I miss each and every bit of my hometown. I am wondering how much changes can I see in my hometown... There are so many things around me all this while but I do not appreciate them truly, I only start realising their importance once I am all alone in a land far far away.... 

Finally, after been through the thick and thin, I am on 10,000m above sea level and embarking on my homecoming journey! =D

Amazing Indian Train Experience

As I am writing this, I am lying uncomfortably on a sleeping coach of the indian train, recalling what had happened just now. The time now is 4.30am indian time and I just boarded the train which is heading from Udupi to Kochi with a group of 19 other friends. 

The horrible experience came when the train arrived. We were bring rushed to move fast into one of the coaches without having sufficient time to check the coach number. In the end, the 20 of us were stranded in a small and tiny space in one of the many coaches. Jing Yang even stood right beside the opened door of the fast moving train where we can feel the strong wind through it. One fast cornering and maybe he will be flung out of the train. 

Just when all of us thought we will be standing there for 12 hours for the 500km journey, a man who is working there guided us to our coach, we were like 'Thank God he came!!!!!!'. The sleeper coach is terrible than expected, way more terrible. The sleeping place is just sufficient for an average build human to fit in, nothing more than that. We can only sleep, not even sit or stretch our back!

Nothing can be done as I constantly remind myself that I am going to reach Malaysia soon. Time to sleep, shubalatri~ =)

A Gift of Smile

On my way back to hostel today, as usual I saw my cobbler with his daughter, the ever cheerful and active young girl running here and there. His dad will be sitting under the shady tree working with shoes everyday as you can see in the photo. Without hesitation I sat there, looked at her and gave her the smiley ball that I always carry alongside me. She was jumping with joy upon receiving the ball. I never realized even such a small yet simple thing will bring joy to her. Seeing her playing with it and bouncing it across the street made my day too. That’s the reason why I always carry simple things that can bring joy to others, because you never know some people may need it more than you do~ =)

I was recovering from my trauma after getting such a relatively low marks for my Multiple True False paper in Physiology today. I have spent hours of preparation for this test but maybe I am not giving my 100% focus on it. However, my sadness will not last long as we should not be too stuck onto something bad for a long time. Looking at how the little girl living a happy life even without shoes, without iPad and without a clean toys like what other girls of the same age have in Malaysia, made me realized life is not about exams, we live to live, not to grief over something bad that cannot be reversed.

I never put high expectation to myself as I realized the higher expectation we have, the higher chances we will become unhappy. As studying in medical course is extremely tough and competitive, one way of living through it happily in this 5 years for me is to accept it and adapt to it but not to compare myself with others. There are only 2 outcomes if you compare yourselves with others.

1)  If you compare yourselves with people who have better results than you, then you will feel inferior and tend to stress up yourselves. Deal with it! Tell yourself that they are more hardworking and they sacrifice their time more, they deserve the good results!

2) If you compare yourselves with others who have bad result and generally lower performance than you, then you will feel relieved for a short moment, before you realized you shouldn’t compare yourself with them as they are not worth comparing. Thus,most of us tend to compare with people who are greater, smarter and better than us, which is healthy but should not be taken too seriously.

In a nutshell, we are who we are and there are times where we struggle so hard that we forget who we actually are. Be yourself because you are unique in your own way!

Self Satisfaction

Elyn & Siong Keat - My 2 sakai friends

Sometimes I felt so lucky to be born in Malaysia. Few weeks back when I was in the library, I came across a lady who worked there. She told me that the to and fro journey from her house to Manipal is rs14 a day which is approximately RM 0.90. Upon hearing that, I told her it is cheap in a slip of tongue but instead, she told me it is quite costly. Immediately after that, I realised I am actually one lucky dude on earth. Just last week itself, my friends and I bought coconuts to quench our thirst. Upon paying, the shop keeper charged us rs36, not for 1 coconut, but 3!

This afternoon as I was walking back to my hostel, I saw Mr Muthu with his daughter along his old and rusty shoe-repairing hut. His daughter was nicely sleeping on a piece of board covered by a not-so-clean towel under the shady tree. This sight definitely will not be seen in my hometown as everyone is happily living in their comfort zone but in India, it is a norm. There are people who struggle all their lives to earn money while there are some who lives happily with what they are having now. For me, I am fortunate to be what I am now and I am always satisfied with the people and things surrounding me.

Before I came to India, my elder sister told me that she encountered a girl who will also be coming to India to study medicine during her working period in Aeon, Station 18. Coincidentally, the girl is in the same campus with me but I have totally forgotten about it after I settle down. Today when I was having a random chat with Lai Yeng, only then she told me she knew my sister and she was the girl who talked to her. I was like ‘OMG why now only you tell me??’

The upcoming weeks for me is no-rest weeks as class tests, spotters, practical examination and  viva voce are in line prior to my block exam at the end of January. That is the reason why I have to gear up and be mentally motivated to face all these tough challenges~ =)

‘Don’t be pushed by your problems, be led by your dreams’ – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Earphone Fantasy

I have never own a earphone of my own until today, when I have the sudden urge to buy myself one. This is mainly due to my parents who strongly oppose my siblings and I from using it since small.

Few days back I was amazed by a tweet of my friend. The tweet was something about entering your own world when you plugged in your earphone. Being a student who visits the library only 7 times a week, this is what I am looking for as a companion - a connection with music. It is undeniable that everyone loves music. The right song at the right time is just perfect to express the innerself of mine.

One of the joyous moment I had here is by scratching a smile in the faces of others. This morning itself when I went to Kasturba Hospital for a medical check-up, I was thrilled as the locals are happy upon hearing me saying simple words like thank you & happy new year in their very own Kannada dialect. The satisfaction within myself is hard to describe in words but the experiences I had gone through made me a better person.

As I am writing this blog post I am surrounded by 3 of my many best friends - Siong Keat, Phuah Sheng & Chee Sian. I feel so bleesed to have known them and go through the ups and downs with them.

Countdown 30 days more to be back in Ipoh~ =)

Hosavarushada Shubashaya

It is the beginning of 2013 and I am glad to survive the so called 'end of the world' =)

Few days back a friend of mine asked me when is my free time. I was stumbled upon the word and it took me few seconds to realise that free time is not in my dictionary anymore. The only free time I have is

1) When I am sleeping

2) While having meals

3) When I am daydreaming while studying

As a medical student, I have to constantly keep up the pace and to survive the class tests week by week is definitely not an easy task. As you can see I do not even have the time to update my blog and to edit my wonderful pictures. So from today onwards, I shall continue with my post without beautifying it with tons of lovely photos in order to resuscitate my blog.

Wishing everyone Happy New Year and have a great start of the year~

Hosavarushada Shubashaya

(it means happy new year in Kannada language)

=)

Mangalore Galore

Finally, the major block exam is over, and it is time to escape from the ever hectic life in Manipal! =D

My friends and I headed to Mangalore, a huge city which is approximately 65km from Manipal on this lovely Saturday afternoon. We took a bus which cost us rs80 (RM 4.80) to travel with the intention of watching some new released movies such as Twilight - Breaking Dawn or Skyfall. 

Unfortunately, the time for the showings are either too early or too late.. =(

We reached Mangalore around 3pm and arrived at one of the busy street there. The first mall we entered was Bharath Mall. 

It was a tiny mall where you can see the other end from the entrance. Not much outlets were there, its kinda like Giant or Carrefour in Malaysia but its much more smaller. Nevertheless, we felt excited as this is the first time we actually entered a shopping complex since we came to India!

After getting bored of the mall, we went to another big shopping mall known as City Centre mall. They actually have outlets same like those in Malaysia such as Nike, Adidas, Puma, Pizza Hut and KFC.

The only restaurant that we are dying for is McDonalds.  We went hunting for McDonalds in Mangalore as one of the locals told us that the restaurant actually exists there. After searching through each and every corner, we realized it is actually a rumour...

We had our simple lunch there and after walking for hours, we departed back to Manipal around 7pm and reached 2 hours later. We were all exhausted!

We saw many of our course mates there too, as if all of us made an appointment to meet at the same mall, haha.

Although we did not visit much places, but it is still an enjoyable trip. The feeling of spending time walking and chatting without much study pressure, too awesome that words simply could not define it~~ >_<